Goodwood hosts second Credit Suisse Historic Racing Forum

Sir Stirling Moss and Jochen Mass joined an all-star panel formed by Credit Suisse to discuss a range of topics including “the balance between competitiveness and the historic racing spirit.”

Classic & Sports Car’s editor at large, Simon Taylor, moderated the panel at the Goodwood Revival on Friday, which also boasted great names such as Desiré Wilson, who remains the only female winner of an F1 race; Anthony Reid, former Japanese F3 Champion; Goodwood CEO Lord March; and Ben Cussons, Royal Automobile Club Motoring Committee Chairman.

Ben Cussons made the point that: “Someone like Anthony [Reid] can make a difference of four or five seconds to a car. That then stimulates the whole debate about eligibility and the spirit. You suddenly find Anthony, because he is such a talented chap, going round the track far quicker than you, which leaves only two options. You either reconcile your inability or you go and see a spanner who can give you an extra 50 horsepower.”

One of the other topics for the panel was the effect that the intrusion of the modern world could have on the old-fashioned feel of the Revival, with Lord March saying: “There are always issues which make things difficult, but on the whole people are extremely supportive.”

As always, safety was another concern, Cussons noted: “We all recognise that Goodwood, if you get it wrong, is a dangerous place to be, as are many other circuits. It’s a matter of balancing what applies to modern cars with old cars because otherwise, quite simply, you would not race old cars.”Keen to keep things traditional Sir Stirling Moss added: “If people want to put them [roll-over bars] on, then fair enough. I would not want to drive with one but I can understand why people would. I think it is quite a reasonable idea.”

The panel agreed that the spirit of Goodwood still remained, though, with Sir Stirling concluding: “It [Goodwood] certainly has been, all my life, one of my favourite places to come to because the atmosphere here is something that any other race in the world would like to attain.”This was 2012’s second Historic Racing Forum, the first was held at the GP de Monaco Historique.